Local Scout leaders say policy on gays doesn't go far enough

Thursday

Apr 25, 2013 at 3:15 AMApr 25, 2013 at 6:28 AM

By ANDREA BULFINCHabulfinch@fosters.com

DOVER — With a resolution ready to go before the national council of Boy Scouts of America (BSA) at their annual meeting next month, local members are voicing disappointment with the resolution's continued exclusion and discrimination of adult BSA members who are openly homosexual.

The BSA resolution states that it will “maintain the current membership policy for all adult leaders of the Boy Scouts of America, but change the standard for youth members to include wording that states no youth will be discriminated against by the “Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.”

Still, the exclusion of leading adult members is troubling for many involved.

Leaders of Troop 154 got together last summer, he said, and wrote a letter to national BSA leaders expressing their desire for the ban on homosexual members of BSA to go. Nothing happened last year and the decision on the matter was pushed to May of 2013, he said.

The Granite state has four representatives to the national council, the Daniel Webster Council, who will attend the meeting in May. Adult parents of Troop 154 and Pack 154, and the Daniel Webster Council have written a letter to the National Council of BSA.

“We would like you to know that this policy causes considerable distress to the undersigned Adult Leaders of Boy Scout Troop 154 and Cub Scout Pack 154, both of which are sponsored by the Community Church of Durham, New Hampshire and are in the Daniel Webster Council.”

The letter has nearly 60 signatures that Foster's Daily Democrat has chosen not to publish, who say that “as long as BSA's national leaders maintains a formal policy of excluding gay youth and adults, the organization and its leaders run the risk of appearing to condone one of the leading causes of bullying in the United States today.”

Recently, as part of the Scouts for Equality National Day of Action, local troops watched Sundance award-winning documentary “A Scouts Honor.”

The 53 minute video from 2001 explores film from 2001 tells the story of Steve Cozza, Dave Rice, Tim Curran, and James Dale and is described as “a great way to start off a discussion of the BSA's membership policies.”

Though Scouts for Honor leader Allen Bucy could not be reached, the website clearly states that “discrimination has no place in Scouting.”

During the recent presentation in Durham, a letter from former Barrington resident Michael Boodey was presented. In it, he states that the proposed ban on gay leaders shows “an inherent misunderstanding of human decency and it sends the wrong message to younger scouts.”

He writes that to include youth at the exclusion of adults means that “according to Scout Executives, the young people will become tainted as they become active, adult members of society, perhaps gay members of society.”

A statement from Scouts for Equality posted on their website regarding the resolution reads, “Scouts for Equality supports the Boy Scouts of America's proposal to end its ban on gay youth nationwide as it is a crucial step and we will work to encourage members of the National Council to vote to approve it,” said Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout and the founder of Scouts for Equality. “But we will continue to fight to push discrimination out of Scouting once and for all.”

According to a survey shared on the site via Voice of the Scouts, an internal poll run by the BSA used to gauge where members stand on critical issues showed more than 90 percent of VOS comments indicating “that the BSA's ban on gay youth and parents has harmed local Scouting units.”

At the Durham Community Church where Troop 154 is chartered, pastor Mary Westfall is in full support of full inclusion for homosexuals in the BSA. She said the resolution is disappointing as written, but knows that change takes time and remains hopeful for the BSA.

“We are very committed to our scout troops,” she said.

Westfall said, as a congregation, the church is very troubled that the scouts continue to discriminate even in their resolution.

She said they are very concerned that an organization that has historically been such a positive influence can still maintain a policy that excludes people from its brotherhood.

“They are discriminating in a way that's no longer acceptable,” she said.

Miller pointed out that an openly gay scout could get married in the same church that charters his troop, but could not go on to be a leader in the troop based on the proposed BSA resolution.

One of the reasons both Westfall and Miller think this view might exist is the huge monetary support that comes from various Baptist, Catholic and Mormon churches in the south where the National headquarters is located.

Still, the BSA holds their charter nationally with the U.S. Congress, they each pointed out.

“There are laws against discrimination,” Westfall said.

While she thinks the attitude toward homosexual members and leaders is changing, Westfall said she knows it will take time and while that is happening, the church will pray for those leaders who support the resolution that still excludes people.